For the first-year anniversary of the bird blog carnival I and the Bird, its founder, Mike of 10,000 Birds, asked contributors to talk about why they bird, why they blog and/or why they blog about birds. Read the results here.
Some of Mike’s own thoughts should be of interest to anyone who blogs (or who simply reads blogs), especially if they’re wondering what the deal is with carnivals.
Someone one said that happiness makes up in height what it lacks in length. I suspect that principle applies to many other emotions, including enthusiasm for blogging. This is a tough business, particularly because it’s not a business at all. Very few people are making decent money off the sweat of their brows here in the blogosphere, but lots of bloggers will tell you how heavily they’re sweating. Productive, effective, consistent writing on any topic is demanding work. So what’s the payoff? Where is the inducement to stay at it when other demands loom large? I think most bloggers feel rewarded by recognition and connection. More readers satisfy the former while the respect of our peers, hopefully manifested in the form of links, provides for the latter. So, it stood to reason that if I wanted to see my favorite bloggers continue to offer up top notch content for free while encouraging others to get in the game and do the same, I had to do my part to deliver readers and links. That, my friends, is what a carnival does.
If the new Festival of the Trees enjoys even a tenth as much success as I and the Bird, I’ll be satisfied.
Thanks for posting Mikes’ generous view into what blog carnivals are — and better yet, what they actually do!
I am catching up with your Festival of the Trees, finally, and enjoying not only the links, but your wonderful meditation as well!